The purpose of the project is to pursue and extend the work on the role of polyprenols in saccharide synthesis. These compounds are associated to cell membranes, and are presumably involved in the synthesis of cell membrane saccharides, contributing in this way to determine membrane specificity. The project covers the following aspects: a) Studies on animal cells will concentrate on the series of reactions in which dolichol phosphate derivatives of different sugars are involved; b) Studies on the role of lipid intermediates in cellulose and other polysaccharides in Acetobacter; c) the isolation of conditional mutants of animal cells, with the hope of finding some affected in the formation or utilization of lipid intermediates.